A-List celebrities battle for role in Barack Obama's inauguration

A-list celebrities in the US are vying with each other as they desperately compete for a role in Barack Obama's inauguration ceremony.

By Tim Shipman in Washington

9:33AM GMT 30 Nov 2008

But with four million people planning to flock to Washington for the event the country's hottest stars cannot even be guaranteed tickets.

A roster of actors and singers are hoping to perform at the series of balls which will mark Mr Obama's swearing as America's 44th president on Jan 20.

Some have been reduced to begging for one of the 240,000 seats at the swearing in ceremony with members of congress in the same way as members of the public.

Mr Obama asked many big names to avoid his election night victory party in Chicago after being stung by criticism during the election campaign that he was himself a vacuous celebrity like Paris Hilton.

Hollywood stars Ben Affleck, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins and singers Jay-Z, May J. Blige and Sean P. Diddy Combs, were all asked to keep a low profile. Only Oprah Winfrey, who lives in Chicago, featured in the crowd.

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But Mr Obama's aides are encouraging a megawatt display of star power to herald the dawn of what they have labelled Bamelot, a derivation of John F. Kennedy's Camelot administration where politicians and celebrities regularly rubbed shoulders.

Obama aides are in the process of raising in excess of $50 million to pay for the inaugural celebrations, which will include eight official balls which Mr Obama and his wife Michelle will attend on the big night, and dozens of other gatherings hosted by state congressional delegations.

Among the glitziest events will one hosted by the MTV music channel, which will feature an, as yet unannounced, bevy of stars.

The Creative Coalition, a group that lobbies for the entertainment industry, will host a bash attended by Spike Lee, Anne Hathaway, Susan Sarandon, Ellen Burstyn, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jane Krakowski, Dana Delany, Matthew Modine, Alan Cumming, Connie Britton and Richard Schiff, who played the communications director Toby Ziegler in The West Wing, the fictional White House drama series.

Singer Beyoncé Knowles has volunteered to sing and she may see her husband, rapper Jay-Z on the bill as well. Bruce Springsteen and Oscar winning actress Jennifer Hudson are expected to perform somewhere on inauguration night and British singers Elvis Costello and Leona Lewis have also been asked about their availability.

An aide to a Nevada congressman told The Sunday Telegraph that an entertainer who often performs in Las Vegas had even been in touch to request a ticket to the inauguration. "This is a really well known singer and he had not managed to get a ticket from the campaign," the aide said. "We've had thousands of requests and just a couple of hundred tickets." Some congressmen have had in excess of 15,000 requests from congressmen for 200 seats.